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Copyright 1999 The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) All Rights Reserved The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) March 15, 1999 Monday Met and metro Editions SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 04E LENGTH: 434 words HEADLINE: Music review; Ensemble, pianist collaborate nicely BYLINE: ADLER ANDREW, Courier-Journal Critic Dorian Wind Quintet As one of North America's bestknown chamber ensembles of its kind, the Dorian Wind Quintet has the privilege both of commissioning works and collaborating with some of the finer soloists now active. Each of these came into play yesterday at the University of Louisville School of Music, where the Dorian performed an eclectic program as part of the Chamber Music Society's current season. Besides the regular membership - flutist Marianne Gedigian, oboist Gerard Reuter, clarinetist Jerry Kirkbride, bassoonist Jane Taylor and hornist Nancy Billman - pianist Richard Ormrod was on hand to participate in music of Beethoven and the contemporary American composer Billy Childs. Principal attentions were given over to Childs' "A Day in the Forest of Dreams,'' which the Los Angelesbased composer wrote for the Dorian in 1997. It is one of those creations that depends, perhaps a little too selfconsciously, on atmosphere and evocations of particular moods and imagery. When you open such a piece with an extended flute trill, it soon becomes clear that these forest murmurs will be unmistakably apparent. This first of two movements, called "First Glimpse of Sunlight,'' is static and blocky, arranging its harmonic language amid a context of deliberate fantasy. Afterward comes an "Afternoon Dance,'' and here the intense surface energies propel a listener along Childs' jazz-infused path - even when his material doesn't justify extraordinary interest. Yesterday's account sounded in firm control, the winds predominating early on before Ormrod's keyboard contributions gained momentum. He was just deferential enough to avoid trampling his colleagues, infusing passage-work with light, evocatively stressed fingerings. The piano occupied a more conventional position in Beethoven's Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 16 (where the flute is absent). Ormrod and the four winds turned in a bigboned account that acknowledged all the essential points: spacious, yet never too aggressive. There were delights as well during Ibert's "Trois Pieces Breves,'' where the quicker and more precise the scorings, the feistier the performances. Two arrangements proved modestly distinctive. Mozart's Fantasy for Mechanical Clock-Organ in F Minor, K. 594, was played in Mordechai Rechtman's facile recasting for wind ensemble. Ronald Roseman's Renaissance Suite - transcriptions of five short pieces by Heinrich Isaac, Pierre Passereau and Girolamo Cavazzoni - was inauthentic. But the musicianship satisfied without complaint.